All this week People have been saying that they think the Vatican's invitation to Anglicans is simply that, an invitation to Anglicans.
What if there is something much bigger implied in this "Welcome"?
What if this is the continuation of a concerted effort by the Roman Catholic Church to over come the separation caused by the Reformation and its aftermath?
What if the Holy See of Rome has decided that they are willing to move toward the Protestant community in such a way as to span this separation and bridge the divide of the sixteenth century?
The theological ground work was done during the years of ecumenical dialogue in the 1960's through 2000. This ground work resulted in agreements on the doctrines of Holy Baptism, The Creeds, Holy Communion, The Office of the Ministry, Confession and forgiveness, and the nature and function of the Petrine ministry. There was even a document on the theology of Justification. The Justification document showed that the main cause of the separation was no longer a cause for continuing the divide.
Recently, the Vatican announced that His Holiness the Pope wanted to gather the fruits of those theological agreements. Benedict xvi is dedicated not only to the theological unity of the Church but to the realization of full organic unity of the Church.
Faced with Secularism, the new paganism, materialism and other challenges to the Christian faith, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church may feel that the days of Christian theological and philosophic dominance are over and that world wide Christianity is now in survival mode.
He may feel that as the leader of the largest of the Western Christian Church, he is required to take the lead and shepherd his Church and the world wide Christian community toward a unification. This would be the natural outcome of a existing unity of philosophy, doctrine, theology, worship practices coupled with a need for a unified answer to the challenges of today.
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